Police Officer's Safety Tip Saved Teen Daughter From Hotel Room Invader

A woman in Canada has recalled how a tip from her police officer stepdad saved her from an attempted hotel room invasion when she was a teenager. Watch her recount what happened here:

Josie Bowers, from Ontario, was on holiday with her family in Ocean City, Maryland, USA, when a man used a contraption to open the hotel room door from the outside.

Josie - who was aged just 15 at the time - was all alone in the room when the device was slipped under the bottom of the door and used to pull down the handle.

She relived the 'scariest experience' of her life in a series of videos on her TikTok account which quickly went viral.

The 19-year-old said: "I was staying in Ocean City, at the Hilton, right there on the waterfront, and I went to go shower as the rest of my family was down at the beach. I was by myself.

"My main thought was holy s*** I'm in a towel right now and someone is about to break in, and get me. So the door opens a crack, and I just slammed it back shut and put the deadbolt on."

The man then told her he was there to fix the door - but Josie had her suspicions.

TikTok/@josiebowers10

She continued: "So they tell me your keycard is broken and we need to get into the room and fix your keypad for you. And so I open the door a tad bit, to see if it was a worker. It clearly wasn't, they were in jeans and a T-shirt. Hilton keeps it pretty classy, not the attire."

Fortunately, Josie remembered a tip passed on to her by her police officer stepdad - a tip which made all the difference.

She said: "So I think I'm very smart for this one, my stepdad is a police officer, he taught me never to let people know you're alone.

"I yelled 'Hey dad, there's someone here to fix the door.' As soon as they thought that I wasn't alone - and potentially my dad was there - they ran, they were gone."

While the experience was undoubtedly terrifying, Josie hopes her tale will alert others to the threat and encourage them to follow her safety tips.

She said: "I'm glad I had this experience so I can teach people about it. Obviously I'm safe but it could have ended up a lot worse.

"Be safe, you can get door stoppers, always put on the deadbolt."

Topics: Viral, Police, Interesting, crime, Community, Canada, TikTok

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey